Happy International Women’s day – 2019. I was inspired to share this today, I’m not sure where the topic sprung from but it’s something I find interesting and thoroughly perplexing – and hey, it got me writing again. I also found that the more I wrote (and thought) the more I had to say, and the more questions I had about the concept itself. I’ve outlined a few of my thoughts below but I’m sure I’m no closer to solving this one myself so add your thoughts in the comments and share your favourite female leads with me below as well!

Do lead characters have to be physically bad-ass to be considered ‘strong’? 

Strength can be defined in many ways and one thing I’ve found is that in their enthusiasm to create strong women in fiction, creators often craft callous or falsely unfeeling female leads that whilst, of course, bad-ass on one level come off a little one dimensional. Loyalty, love, ferocity of will – these characteristics are all elements of emotional strength and it has to be true that emotional intelligence is as valuable as physical strength or traditionally masculine attributes of power and control. Characters shouldn’t have to be brutal to be brilliant – complexity and qualities that make your lead realistic should reign supreme. 

Can a strong female lead have a love interest?

Many reviews of strong female leads protest female leads whose main motivation comes from matters of the heart – understandable, but can it work? Absolutely. The heart is a strong motivator (be it revenge based or the pursuit of happily ever after) – it just comes back to that same notion of complexity and diversity of character. It’s a bit ridiculous for all female characters to be motivated only when head-over-heels. It’s important to represent other realities – that women can be motivated and driven by self-fulfillment needs (career goals or money for example) or something as basic as survival. This variability exists for male protagonist and there’s no reason it shouldn’t for all characters, regardless of gender. People of different ages, different races, with different experiences and passions are destined to have journeys driven by different goals. Unrealistic justifications for character decisions are nothing but frustrating – let’s have a focus on something other than a love interest please.

“What do we do now?”

I really liked the way Reese Witherspoon talked about female characters at the Women of the Year Awards in 2015.

“Do you know any woman in any crisis situation who has absolutely no idea what to do?” And how many women do you know who would turn and ask a man before asking another woman?

Token characters are one of the most annoying features in any creative work and they are the anti strong female character. Characters can drive plot by their explainable choices but they aren’t just plot tools. The era of the ‘what do we do now’ girl should be coming to a close but change requires action.

If you’re a creator or you’re a part of any community where these conversations are happening, make yourself a part of the movement and drive innovation and change in your communities. Reece Witherspoon was told there wasn’t a market for female driven, female led films by someone who was wrong. Fighting to to represent accurate female characters is just one part of the larger, culture altering machine. Strong female leads are symbols of a reformed future of equality and they can help mend the cultural crisis that Reece was talking about.

Is ‘strong female lead’ a reductive statement?

As I’m writing this piece I find myself answering questions that seem almost laughable, I mean, who’s talking about the strong male leads? And where the heck are all our other adjectives? Male characters are so often intelligent, witty, devious, brave, manipulative, conceited, prejudice, eloquent… It’s ironic how weak the word ‘strong’ becomes when broken down in this context. “Strong female lead” is a proud tag line pasted at the top of 5-star reviews but is it just another token tick box? Male leads are never attributed as such – they are assumed to be strong already. But maybe the term is a part of the movement, here’s hoping it’ll phase out along with other out-dated transitional terminology. I’m voting for the popular notion of a ‘well-written female lead’ over a ‘strong’ one, who’s with me?

Current verdict: what is a ‘strong female lead’? 

You may disagree (and please by all means add to the discussion on this below) but at the moment the best way for me to define a ‘strong female lead’ is this: a prominent female person in a novel/tv series/ film (whatever medium) with complexity of character that isn’t necessarily defined by brutality or traditionally masculine characteristics. This character should think and act independently and play a significant role in the plot (no token characters here thanks.) 

Do you have any favourite ‘strong’ female leads from literature or the screen? Share them below!